Bell's News

A look back at the history of Best Brown

Fall is here and it means it’s time for Best Brown Ale, our fall seasonal.

Best Brown was first released in 1988 and packaged in 22 oz. bottles. It featured a plain type label and then a winter pine cone.

The owl first appeared in 1993 and has been on the label ever sense. There have been different styles, as seen in the gallery below.

The owl painting we have today on the front of 12 oz. bottles and 16 oz. cans was based on an acrylic painting by Kent Elliott of Black Lab Five.

Elliot said the painting was inspired by evenings in Marshall, Michigan, just east of Kalamazoo, when the beautiful autumn light rakes across the woods, lighting up a slight fog in the air.

“There's nothing quite like that autumn light,” Elliott said in 2013. “This is that moment when all the deer, turkeys, coyotes, squirrels and chipmunks have paused (maybe to listen) — and the silence is broken by the soft sound of a distant owl echoing through the hardwoods.”